Ukrainian proper names are mostly conveyed on the basis of their phonemic / orthographic structure, i. e. aretransliterated in English. One of the efforts to get rid of our former colonial past was the adoption by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada of the Romanization System, which enable the conveying of our proper and geographical names in accordance with some rules. This is how the system is presented:
Ukrainian Romanization Ukrainian Romanization
1. Aa Aa 18. Íí Nn
2. Áá Bb 19. Îî Oo
3. Ââ Vv Ww 20. Ïï Pp
4. Ãã Hh 21. Ðð Rr
5. Ãã Gg 22. Ññ Ss
6. Ää Dd 23. Òò Tt
7. Åå Ee 24. Óó Uu
8. ªº Ye, ie 25. Ôô Ff
9.Ææ Zh 26. Õõ Kh
10. Çç Zz 27. Öö Ts
11. Èè Yy 28. ×÷ Ch, tch, č
12. ²³ Ii 29. Øø Sh, š
13. ¯¿ Yi, ii 30. Ùù Shch
14. Éé Yy 31. Þþ Yu, iu
15. ÊÊ Kk, ck 32. ßÿ Ya, ia
16. Ëë Ll 33. ü ’
17. Mm Mm
A practical realization of system can be illustrated on many Ukrainian names:
/è/ → y: Êèðèëî – Kyrylo, Âèííèê – Vynnyk;
/ ¿/ → ó³, ³³, ³: When preceded by a vowel, the sound [ j ] is to be conveyed through the letter i. dzíà¿äà - Zinaida, Zinaida. When i initiates the proper name, the sound expressed by it has to be conveyed through the yi letter combination: ¯âãà – Yivha, ¯æàêåâè÷ – Yizhakevych.
/é/→ when preceded by the /i/ sound it is conveyed in English as ii, iy: Àíäð³é – Andriy, Ãóë³é – Huliy, Hulii.
When preceded by [ è ] – yi: Ãîðîâèé – Horovyi, ѳðèé – Siryi, Hnidyi.
/þ/→ yu, iu
/º/→ ye, ie
/ÿ/→ ya, ia; ßêèì – Yakym, Çàá³ÿêà – Zabiyaka. The sound /ÿ/ in the final position of a word or a name can sometimes be conveyed by the ia. Ìàð³ÿ – Maria, Yulia, Malaysia
/ü/ → Ukrainian palatalized consonants obtain a hard pronunciation in English. Âàñèëü - Vasyl’; Ëóöüê – Lyts’k , Red’ko, Koval’.
/ã/ → h, not identical voiceless [ h ]. Ãàâðèëî – Havrylo, Ãðèã³ð – Hryhir, Hromak, [ã ] → ä Ãóäç³é – Gudziy.
/æ/→ is conveyed with the help of the zh letter combination. Æóê - Zhuk, Æàííà - Zhanna.
/õ/→ through the kh :Õîìà - Khoma, Õèìè÷ - Khymych.
/÷/→ ch, tch, č. Êëî÷êî - Klochko, Klotshko,×îðíèé - Chornyi.
tch is often used in final position – Êîð÷ - Kortch.
/ø/→ sh, š
Recently, in accordance with the internationally agreed rules (UNESCO) our [÷] sound is often conveyed via the č sigh and [ø] - š sigh: ×àñò³é- Častiy, Chastii, ×åðíèø- Černyš, Chernysh, Áîãà÷- Bohatch, Bohač.
[ø÷] ù –has similarly no equivalents in English. Traditionally through the combination shch or sch, now sometimes šč Ùàäåíêî– Shchadenco, Þùóê- Yuschuk, Yushchuk.
[â]- v, Âîëîäèìèð- Volodymyr, Âîâ÷îê-Vovchok, but , ³ëü of course must be only –Will. Consequently may also be Wowchenko, Warenyk, Wowchok.